The conventional harvesting header comprises a frame for mounting on a crop harvesting machine for movement across ground carrying a crop to be harvested, the frame defining a working width of the header, a table mounted on the frame across the width of the header for receiving the crop when cut for transportation along the header, a cutting knife along a front edge of the table for cutting the crop and a pickup reel mounted above the knife and the table for controlling the crop as it moves onto the table. The reel comprises a main elongate support beam and a plurality of tine tubes at angularly spaced positions around the main beam. The tine tubes can be divided into shorter lengths than the full length of the reel with each tine tube extending between tine tube supports on the reel. The tine tubes typically carry tines or fingers at spaced positions along the length of the tine tube.
A reel of this type is shown in U.S. Pat. No. 4,776,155 (Fox) issued Oct. 11th, 1988 and assigned to the present assignees. The tine tube in this arrangement is formed from shaped sheet metal and defining a cylindrical section along one edge of the tube so that the cylindrical section can be connected end to end to other such tubes by short connecting pipe sections. The pipe sections and the cylindrical section thus define an axis around which the tine tube rotates. Each finger is inserted into a pocket defined in the sheet metal tube so as to project outwardly in a radial plane of the axis. Each finger is formed from a molded plastics element defining a single thickness with a slight curvature toward the tip. A button on one end of the finger projects into a hole in the tube to latch the finger in place.
In an alternative construction also previously used, which supersedes that shown in the above patent, there is provided a main longitudinal tine tube forming the base structure onto which is welded a plurality of sheet metal holders each for holding a finger of the construction shown in the above patent.
These arrangements have some disadvantage in that the sheet metal elements are relatively expensive and in that they mount only a single thickness or strip of the finger so that there is a tendency of the finger to break at or adjacent the edge of the sheet metal element.
A less expensive construction comprises a coiled wire arrangement which defines two parallel spaced fingers connected by a central helical coil section which wraps around the tube. The central coil section is then bolted to the tube by a bolt which passes through diametrically opposed punched holes in the tube. The head of the bolt thus holds down the central section of the coil thus holding the coil in place and maintaining the fingers at a predetermined angular orientation around the axis of the tube. This arrangement has some disadvantage in that, while it is cheap and easy to manufacture, the use of metal parts on the reel is disadvantageous in that any broken fingers or pieces of finger which enter the crop material pass into and through the combine harvester on which the header is mounted with significant danger of damage to the threshing system.
Another prior art construction manufactured by HCC Inc of Mendota Ill. comprises a molded plastic finger which has integrally molded with the finger portion a mounting portion in the form of a collar. The collar wraps wholly around the tube and is squeezed in place by a screw which clamps together two ends of the collar. In order to prevent rotation of the collar on the tube, there is provided a single molded projection extending radially inwardly from an otherwise cylindrical surface of the collar so as to engage into a hole in the tube. This arrangement has the disadvantage in that it is relatively weak. It is desirable to provide a mounting which allows a user to attach either the wire coil arrangement or the plastic finger depending upon the requirements in particular crop conditions.
In U.S. Pat. No. 6,324,823 by the present inventor and assigned to the present assignees and issued on Dec. 4, 2001 there is shown a crop harvesting header includes a reel mounted on a pair of forwardly extending arms carried on a header frame above a table and cutting knife. The reel is rotatable about a longitudinal axis and includes tine tubes with fingers which pivot each about a respective tube axis so the angle of the fingers varies as the reel rotates. Each finger has a finger portion of I shape in cross-section and a mounting collar. The collar only partly surrounds the tube so as to have a portion which can flex open to allow the collar to be wrapped around the tube. A bolt clamps the collar onto the tine tube.
In addition to the above designs, many other proposals have been made for attachment of the fingers to the tine tube for rotational and pivoting movement of the fingers as the reel rotates. Fingers are typically spaced at a distance of 4 to 7 inches.
In other arrangements, instead of the spaced fingers, bats are used where the element projecting from the tine tube or support is a bat or elongate flap member. While the fingers are generally accepted as a more suitable device to effect pick up of crop during cutting to carry the crop over the cutting knife to the table or draper, in some conditions of light crop the fingers can pass between the stems of the light crop and thus miss engaging the stems. Thus the fingers are more effective with crop which forms a sufficiently dense crop mat for the fingers to engage and carry the crop. However the fingers become ineffective when the crop is very light with the result that the plants then sit on the cutter bar or fall back to the ground resulting in an unacceptable high percentage of crop loss, thus exacerbating the already low crop production in the light crop conditions.
Some attempts to resolve this problem have been tried using web tipped fingers which are attached in replacement for the conventional narrow fingers but the change-over from one configuration to the other is quite time consuming. Bolt-on bats are also provided by some manufacturers which are formed of sheet metal or plastic and are attached to the individual fingers by u-bolts or clamps. However again the attachment of these arrangements is time consuming and difficult.